David B. Givens, Ph.D.
509-624-4794
nonverbal2@aol.com

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH

David B. Givens began studying "body language" for his Ph.D. in anthropology at the University of Washington in Seattle. He served as Resident Anthropologist and Director of Information Services and Programs at the American Anthropological Association in Washington, D.C. from 1985-97, and is currently Director of the Center for Nonverbal Studies (CNS), located in Spokane, Washington. He taught anthropology at the University of Washington and teaches in the Department of Communication Arts at Gonzaga University. His expertise lies in nonverbal communication, anthropology and the brain. Givens offers seminars on nonverbal communication to diverse audiences, including lawyers, judges, social workers, salespeople, physicians and nurses, and works with law enforcement agencies and the U.S. intelligence community on matters of nonverbal communication. Two of Givens's articles on nonverbal communication are recognized as international classics by the Max Planck Institute in Germany. Givens and neuroscientist Paul D. MacLean introduced the word "isopraxism" (the reptilian principle of mimicking) into the English language, as announced by the executive editor of the American Heritage Dictionary, Anne H. Soukanov, in the Atlantic Monthly in 1993. David Givens was a member of a team of anthropologists, linguists, astronomers, nuclear physicists, psychologists and materials scientists charged by the U.S. Department of Energy with designing a marker to warn human beings 10,000 years in the future about the dangers of nuclear waste. Givens has spoken on nonverbal communication to the Smithsonian Institution, National Academy of Sciences, European Cosmetic Toiletry and Perfumery Association (COLIPA), New York Life Insurance Company, Washington State Administrator for the Courts and other groups. He has done communications consulting for Sandia National Laboratories, the Bechtel Group, U.S. Department of Energy, Pfizer, Epson, Wendy's International, Dell Inc., Unilever, Hallmark and Best Buy; his ideas on nonverbal communication have been written about in Omni, Harpers, the New Yorker, U.S. News & World Report and other magazines, and in newspapers including the New York Times, Washington Post and Los Angeles Times. Author of reports, magazine and encyclopedia articles himself, Givens's book, Love Signals: A Practical Field Guide to the Body Language of Courtship, was published in 2005 by St. Martin's Press in New York. Givens's book, Crime Signals: Body Language of Murderers, Terrorists, and Thieves will be published in 2007 by St. Martin's Press in New York. His online Nonverbal Dictionary of Gestures, Signs, and Body Language Cues is used around the world as a reference tool.

PUBLICATIONS

Copyright © 1998 - 2006 (David B. Givens/Center for Nonverbal Studies)